Citations:
State v. Lingar, 726 SW2d 728 (Mo. 1987), cert. denied 484 US 872 (1987).
Lingar v. State, 766 SW2d 640 (Mo. 1988), cert. denied 493 US 900 (1989).
Lingar v. Bowersox, 176 F3d 453 (8th Cir. 1999).

Internet Sources:

Capital Punishment in Missouri from Missouri.Net

In the early morning hours of January 6, 1985 Thomas Scott Allen, a 16 year old junior in high school student, ran out of gas on Highway 160 in Ripley County, Missouri. A blue Ford Mustang driven by Stanley Lingar who was with David Smith and a group of hitchhikers they had earlier picked up stopped. Mr. Allen explained his situation and Lingar told him he would drive him to a gas station. The hitchhikers got out of the car and Lingar, Smith and Mr. Allen drove to Doniphan, Missouri. Finding no gas station open Lingar drove from Doniphan and headed toward Lingo Lake.

At one point Lingar told Mr. Allen to remove his coat which he declined to do. Lingar then threatened that if he did not comply he would not take Mr. Allen back to town. Mr. Allen removed his coat. When they arrived at Lingo Lake Lingar threatened to leave Mr. Allen at the lake if he did not take off his clothes. Mr. Allen complied at which time Lingar ordered Mr. Allen to masturbate. When Mr. Allen had difficulty responding to the order, Lingar drove to his parents' home and retrieved a .22 caliber rifle. He then returned to Lingo Lake where he again ordered Mr. Allen to masturbate while pointing the rifle at him.

Mr. Allen asked to get out of the car so that he could urinate. Lingar agreed and both men got out of the car. Lingar then shot Mr. Allen in the back. Mr. Allen was able to get back in the car in an attempt escape. When he had difficulty getting the car started Lingar went to the passenger side of the car and fired a shot striking Mr. Allen in the head. Mr. Allen fell out of the car and as he tried to get up Lingar shot him a third time. Mr. Allen attempted to get up and Lingar began beating him in the head with a tire iron.

As Mr. Allen made a final attempt to get up, Lingar got into the car and backed it up running over the victim two times. Lingar and Smith then drove away leaving Mr. Allen laying naked on the ground. After conferring with his brother Eddie, Lingar and Smith returned to the lake to dispose of Mr. Allen's body. Upon arrival Lingar and Smith redressed Mr. Allen, placed his body in the trunk of the car and drove to a bridge on the Eleven Point River. The two men threw Mr. Allen's body into the swift moving river and then tried to clean the car of blood, discard Mr. Allen's personal effects and burn the forearm and stock of the rifle. The next day Lingar and Smith sold the Mustang and a pickup truck. They used the proceeds to go to Bowling Green, Kentucky where they attempted to destroy the remainder of the rifle.

The Ripley County Sheriff began an investigation into the disappearance of Mr. Allen which lead him to the blue Mustang. Upon learning that authorities wanted to talk to him Lingar returned to Ripley County where he and Smith made a statement. Following the interview the Sheriff obtained a search warrant for the car. During their search the Sheriff found Mr. Allen's blood in the car and the trunk as well as .22 caliber shell casings. On January 14, 1985 the Missouri State Water Patrol found Mr. Allen's body in the river. Lingar was then charged with Murder First Degree.

Legal Chronology

03/06/85 - Stanley Lingar kills Thomas Scott Allen in Ripley County, Missouri.
03/14/85 - Lingar is charged with Murder First Degree.
03/12/86 - Lingar’s trial starts in St. Francois County Circuit Court after a change of venue.
03/13/86 - The jury finds Lingar guilty of Murder First Degree.
03/14/86 - The jury recommends the death penalty.
04/18/86 - Lingar is sentenced to death by the court.
04/24/86 - Lingar files a notice of appeal.
03/17/87 - The Missouri Supreme Court affirms the conviction and sentence.
10/05/87 - The U. S. Supreme Court denies certiorari review.
10/13/87 - Lingar files a motion for post-conviction relief in the St. Francois County Circuit Court.
06/08/88 - The Circuit Court denies post-conviction relief.
03/14/89 - The Missouri Supreme Court affirms the denial of post-conviction relief.
10/10/89 - The U. S. Supreme Court denies certiorari review.
10/18/89 - Lingar files a petition for writ of habeas corpus in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri.
08/02/96 - The U. s. District Court denies the petition for writ of habeas corpus.
05/11/99 - The Eighth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals affirms the denial of relief.
03/27/00 - The U.S. Supreme Court declines discretionary review.
05/10/00 - The State requests the Missouri Supreme Court to set an execution date.
01/10/01 - The Missouri Supreme Court sets February 7, 2001 as Lingar's execution date.

The Lamp of Hope (Associated Press & Rick Halperin)

February 7 - MISSOURI - Stanley D. Lingar was executed early Wednesday for sexually abusing and killing a 16-year-old southeast Missouri boy in 1985. Lingar, 37, died at 12:06 a.m. after the 1st of 3 lethal drugs was administered at the Potosi Correctional Center. Lingar was given the death sentence for killing Thomas S. Allen. He was the first inmate to be executed this year in Missouri.

Lingar's fate was sealed late Tuesday when Gov. Bob Holden denied his clemency request. Holden reviewed Lingar's case and determined there was no evidence that merited setting aside his sentence, spokesman Jerry Nachtigal said. It was the 1st life-or-death decision for Holden, who took office in January. Earlier Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Lingar's appeal.

Advocates for Lingar made several claims on his behalf - that he suffered from a severe mental disorder and was borderline mentally retarded; that he was extremely drunk at the time of the killing; and that the other man involved in the crime, David L. Smith, served just 6 years in prison. Most prominent among the factors cited was one unique to Missouri death row cases - that Lingar's homosexuality played a role in his sentence. Lingar's attorney, Jeremy Weis, said Ripley County prosecutors raised the issue of homosexuality to inflame the jury against Lingar. Amnesty International and the New York-based gay activist group Queer Watch also asked Holden to halt the execution. "There is concern he got the death penalty because he is gay," said Bill Dobbs of Queer Watch. "It's a very ugly, reprehensible murder. However, there are serious due process issues." "That's absurd," Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon said. "It's the brutality of the crime, not the sexual orientation of the killer."

Allen, of the southeast Missouri town of Doniphan, was on his way home from his girlfriend's house Jan. 6, 1985, when his Jeep ran out of gas along a 2-lane road. Lingar and Smith had spent the day drinking - court records showed Smith drank 3 bottles of wine and 6-8 beers; Lingar drank around 30 beers plus part of a bottle of wine. They saw Allen along the road and offered to drive him to a service station, but instead drove to Lingar's parents' home where Lingar picked up a .22-caliber rifle. They then drove to nearby Lingo Lake. Lingar and Smith ordered Allen to undress and masturbate. After allowing Allen to get out of the car, Smith testified that Lingar shot Allen, beat him with a tire iron and ran over him twice with his Mustang. The men then dumped Allen's body in the Eleven Point River, about 25 miles west of Doniphan.

During the penalty phase of Lingar's trial, Smith testified that he and Lingar were homosexual lovers. Smith pleaded guilty to 2nd-degree murder, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and agreed to testify against Lingar during the trial. Smith eventually served just 6 years, was released in 1991, and is now believed to be living in Kentucky. The clemency petition said Smith was far more intelligent that Lingar, and as a result, more likely to mastermind the crime. Ripley County prosecutor Christopher Miller said the relationship of Lingar and Smith was not central to the case, but possibly was relevant to their demands upon Allen. Lingar has maintained all along that he was too drunk to remember anything about that night, Weis said. Lingar had declined to be interviewed.

Lingar becomes the 1st condemned inmate to be put to death this year in Missouri and the 47th overall since the state resumed capital punishment in 1990. Missouri ranks 4th in total executions in the USA in the modern era (since 1977), trailing only Texas (242), Virginia (81) and Florida (51). Lingar becomes the 13th condemned inmate to be put to death this year in the USA and the 696th overall since America resumed executions on January 17, 1977.

ProDeathPenalty.Com

On April 18, 1986, Thomas S. Allen, a 16-year-old high school junior, was coming home from his girlfriend's home when his Jeep ran out of gas. Stanley Lingar and his accomplice David Smith stopped and offered to take Thomas into town for gas. Instead, they took him to Lingo Lake and forced Thomas to undress and to perform sex acts, then took him to Lingar's parents' home and got a gun. They then returned to Lingo Lake where Lingar again ordered Thomas to masturbate while pointing the rifle at him. Thomas asked if he could get out of the car to urinate, and Lingar agreed. Lingar then shot Thomas in the back. Thomas was able to get back in the car in an attempt escape. When he had difficulty getting the car started, Lingar went to the passenger side of the car and fired a shot striking Thomas in the head. Thomas fell out of the car and as he tried to get up Lingar shot him a third time. Thomas attempted to get up and Lingar began beating him in the head with a tire iron. As Thomas made a final attempt to get up, Lingar got into the car and backed it up running over the victim two times. Lingar and Smith then drove away leaving Thomas laying naked on the ground. After conferring with his brother Eddie, Lingar and Smith returned to the lake to dispose of Thomas's body. Upon arrival Lingar and Smith redressed Thomas, placed his body in the trunk of the car and drove to a bridge on the Eleven Point River. The two men threw Thomas's body into the swift moving river and then tried to clean the car of blood, discard Thomas's personal effects and burn the forearm and stock of the rifle.

The next day Lingar and Smith sold the Mustang and a pickup truck. They used the proceeds to go to Bowling Green, Kentucky where they attempted to destroy the remainder of the rifle. The Ripley County Sheriff began an investigation into the disappearance of Thomas which lead him to the blue Mustang. Upon learning that authorities wanted to talk to him, Lingar returned to Ripley County where he and Smith made a statement. Following the interview the Sheriff obtained a search warrant for the car. During their search, the Sheriff found Thomas's blood in the car and the trunk as well as .22 caliber shell casings. The Missouri State Water Patrol found Thomas's body in the river. Lingar was then charged with Murder First Degree. Lingar claimed they were drunk and had consumed 30 cans of beer in addition to a quart bottle, plus a half a bottle of wine, however they were not too drunk to be able to commit this crime. The US Supreme Court refused to review Lingar's death sentence in 1989.

Gay Today

What follows is about one death row inmate, a gay man named Stanley Lingar. The clock is ticking toward Lingar's execution, scheduled for 12:01 AM on February 7, 2001. Several gay activists are urging Gov. Bob Holden to stop the execution of gay inmate Stanley Lingar. Before going any further, here is what you can do to help stop this execution:

Contact Missouri Governor Bob Holden - Ask Governor Holden to commute Stanley Lingar's death sentence. Letters are most effective--faxing is advised given how soon the execution is scheduled. E-mails help if you don't have time for a regular letter or a phone call.

After Stanley Lingar was convicted in 1986 of killing sixteen-year-old Thomas Allen, the jury had to decide in a separate hearing if Lingar should receive the death penalty. It was during this penalty phase of the trial that the prosecutor presented irrelevant evidence that Lingar and his male co-defendant had a sexual relationship. The state did not argue that Lingar's sexual orientation provided the motive for the crime or that it was connected in any way to Allen's murder; it presented the homosexual relationship in and of itself as an "aggravating factor" that justified capital punishment. As Lingar's current lawyers later put it, "...to inflame a homophobic jury from a rural area with prejudicial evidence that Lingar was a practicing homosexual; a fact that the prosecution believed the jury would find morally offensive."

The state used Lingar's sexual orientation as a reason to sentence him to death. This trial took place "in the buckle of the Bible Belt… John Ashcroft territory," say activist members of Queer Watch. Queer Watch touched off a death penalty debate two years ago within the nation's gay community, in connection with Matthew Shepard's murder. A number of community organizations jointly issued a statement opposing capital punishment. Until then, no major gay groups had done so.

Linger's impending execution remains on track even though an appellate court has ruled that the prosecutor had been wrong--during the penalty phase-- to introduce evidence that Linger is gay. It called the prosecution tactic, a "harmless error" and refused to reverse Lingar's death sentence. Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty says that if there is no commutation of the sentence it has already organized vigils across Missouri at the time of the execution. Linger is represented by Kent Gipson and Jeremy Weis of the Public Interest Litigation Clinic in Kansas City, Missouri. Amnesty International's Chicago Regional Office and the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri are also working hard on this case.

Queer Watch notes: "There is some public awareness of how race and economic class prejudices play a role in determining who gets sentenced to death. Now GLBT people and others are beginning to realize how anti-gay prejudice works in a similar fashion, in judge's chambers and jury rooms. For those who are stigmatized, justice is not so easy to obtain." Several other factors in Lingar's case support his plea for clemency including ineffective assistance of counsel and a prosecution deal with the co-defendant.

Lingar's trial lawyer, reportedly, had had no previous experience handling first degree murder cases nor those that could result in the death penalty. He presented a defense for Lingar, it was charged, that had been outlawed in Missouri three years prior to the trial. "The murder of Thomas Allen is reprehensible," admits Queer Watch, " "but we cannot allow ourselves to turn away from injustice. If Lingar's death sentence is commuted, he can still be imprisoned for life with no possibility of parole."

Digital Missourian

02-07-2001 - "Clemency Denied; Lingar put to Death," by Matt Williams.

JEFFERSON CITY — Gov. Bob Holden deliberated the fate of Stanley Lingar late into the night, waiting until an hour before the scheduled execution time to deny his request for clemency. Lingar was put to death by lethal injection at 12:01 a.m. today. It was the first execution in Missouri since Holden’s inauguration. “After a complete review of the case, Gov. Holden decided there was no reason to set aside the death sentence,” said Jerry Nachtigal, a spokesman for Holden.

Holden met with legal advisers to review the case periodically throughout the day and deliberated in the Governor’s Mansion from 6 p.m. until the late evening with chief legal counsel Glenn Norton. Holden notified the families of Lingar and the victims before making a formal announcement of his decision at 11 p.m. Spokesman Jerry Nachtigal said Holden would review all the aspects in the case and make his decision after hearing all the facts. Deciding death penalty cases is a hard responsibility to carry as governor, Nachtigal said. “It’s a decision that no governor takes lightly,” Nachtigal said.

Lingar was convicted for the 1985 murder of 16-year-old Thomas Allen. Lingar and his co-defendant, David Smith, reportedly shot and beat Allen after picking him up on the side of the road. Smith pleaded guilty and agreed to testify against Lingar in exchange for a reduced sentence. Smith testified that he was only an accomplice and that Lingar killed Allen.

Kent Gipson, Lingar’s attorney, filed several appeals in the case, saying that Lingar is borderline mentally retarded, had ineffective counsel during trial, and was a victim of discrimination based on his sexual orientation. A final appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court was rejected yesterday afternoon. Gipson said Lingar’s original attorney mishandled the three-day trial by failing to cross-examine witnesses or present much of a defense. Gipson also questioned the credibility of Smith, saying that he had a motive to point to Lingar as the murderer in exchange for a shortened sentence. Smith served six years for the murder before being paroled in 1991.

Gipson also raised the issue that Lingar’s sexual orientation was inappropriately raised during the sentencing phase of the trial. He said prosecutors tried to demonize Lingar to the rural Farmington jury by presenting evidence that he had a homosexual relationship with Smith. “I think it’s pretty offensive that sexual preference can be used as an aggravating factor,” Gipson said.

Rep. Bill Boucher, D-Kansas City, asked the governor to grant Lingar’s clemency request, saying that it takes courage to do the right thing. Boucher, who is sponsoring a bill to exempt the mentally retarded from the death penalty, questioned why Holden would approve the execution of a mentally retarded defendant. “I would be very surprised if he campaigned on the issue that even if a person is mentally retarded, we’re still going to put them to death,” Boucher said.